2. On Initiating Verse 37 Men are ruled by pride and other passions Verse 38 They are best reached by praise of beauty, shown in its most glittering dress. Verses 39-40 When taught to aspire, and clean of the baser appetites, teach them the seven sciences. Verses 41-42 Having instructed them till they are really complete and ready for true initiation, tell them Truth. Verse 43 Once they are on the Path, be silent they will naturally come to Attainment. Verse 44 Many are the virtues of Silence but whoso is vowed to help men must teach them the Next Step. 3. On Changing States of Mind Verse 37 The dolphin signifies any state of mind that is uneasy, ill-content, and unable to escape from its surroundings. Verse 38 Cure this by reflecting that it is the material of Beauty, just as Macbeth's character, Timon's misfortunes, etc. gave Shakespeare his chance. Make your own trouble serve your sense of your own life as a sublime drama. Verse 39 Your thought will thus become lyrical but this will not satisfy your need. You will feel the transitory nature of such a thought. Verse 40 Transform it by looking at it as a necessary and important fact in the framework of the Universe. Verse 41 The lyrical exaltation will now pass into a deep realization of yourself and all that concerns you as an Inhabitant of Nature, containing in your own consciousness the elements of the Divine, and the Bestial, both equally necessary to the Wholeness of the Universe. Your original discomfort of mind will now appear as pleasant, since, lacking that experience, you would have been eternally the poorer.
Verse 42 Now interpret that experience as a particular dealing of God with your soul' Discover an articulate explanation of it compel it to furnish an intelligible message. Verse 43 Follow up this train of thought until you enter into Rapture, caused by the recognition of the fact that you -- and all else -- are ecstatic expressions of a sublime Spiritual spasm, elements of an omniform Eucharist. Truth, no matter how splendid, will now lose all meaning for you. It belongs to a world where discrimination between Subject and Ppredicate is possible, which implies imperfection and you are risen above it. You thus become Pan, the All no longer apart. You thrill with the joy of the lust of creation, become a virgin goddess for your sake. Also, you are insane, sanity being the state which holds things in proper proportion while you have dissolved all in your own being, in ecstasy beyond all measure. Verse 44 Do not attempt to cure a fit of melancholy by lofty ideas such will seem absurd, and you will only deepen your despair. Share with your friends: |